Alex Evans (1)

** spoiler alert ** Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was intrigued by the cover of "The Wolf of Taliskia". An intricate steampunk-esqe cover, with a woman in a gorgeous 1800's style dress. I was even more intrigued by the plot synopsis! A woman inventor, the heiress of a company known for its amazing inventions, who is set to marry a prince of a hidden kingdom! How interesting! Unfortunately, the book crashed so badly that it went through the floor. It's terribly written and it feels like the author doesn't quite have a good grasp of English? For example, they keep using strangely worded phrases that make barely any sense. There were lines that threw me until I realize what the author meant to write. During the wedding scene, the line "My Father grinned at me from the end of the alley", bewildered me, and made me think that maybe there had been a scene change I hadn't noticed. But then I realized what had actually happened. The author used the word "alley" when they meant to use the word "aisle". That word change completely changes the sentence, in a bad way. There also was a line that was roughly "She is believed to be dead or in a sanatorium somewhere." and Victoria responds with "This is terrible!" ...HUH? The correct sentence is "That is terrible!". Did the author forget how tenses work? Also, the author has a weird thing against using contraction words. The book is riddled with grammatical errors, and they only get worse near the end. There are constant incorrect pronouns being used when referring to Victoria, using his or he when they meant to use she or her, so I kept getting confused about who is speaking. The dialogue is wooden and stilted. Scenes end almost as soon as they begin, and the constant scene changes get aggravating. So many scenes happen at random, and for no apparent reason. Side characters are introduced, and then never seen again. When it comes to the romance element of the book, there is NO chemistry between Istvàn and Victoria. The spice scene between them felt so random and out of the blue. Victoria herself is aggravating. Her feelings for the Prince changed back and forth so fast that my head would whirl. The Prince himself feels like a bland stereotype, or a doll to project desires onto. Also, the "mystery" element of the story literally doesn't exist. I completely forgot the goal was to find out who set off the bomb that killed her Father! It was the shoddiest "mystery" I've ever read. There is barely any world-building in this story, which is a disappointment because it had the potential to be such an interesting world! But I don't know how the systems in this world work! Is it science-based? Is it magic-based? Is it both? Who knows, cause I sure don't! The ending of the book is so contrived, that it made me roll my eyes. Then I thought it was over with killing the man who killed her father, but it didn't? The actual end scene has a Countess (?) kidnap Victoria to drain her blood to bathe in to achieve youthfulness, exactly like the real-life Countess Elizabeth Báthory. But gasp! She's saved by the Prince! Who...is a...werewolf? Or technically a shapechanger who can become a wolf? Why does this happen? For what reason? The final line is so random as well. Plot-wise, it feels like the author had a bunch of random scenes prewritten that she slapped together and called it a story.

Also, some of the lines said by Victoria felt a bit...racist. Or at the very least, prejudiced. I'm not sure if this was the author trying to be "time period accurate" but, Victoria said she was scared of getting scalped by Indians, and talking about the fact that the Cherokee had slaves felt unnecessary. Also, I would like to know, what in God's name are Mexican Pants? Or Mexican boots for that matter! One more minor nitpick, Victoria is described as blonde and green-eyed but the book cover has her as a brunette and blue-eyed? Weird choice, but okay.

Basically, this is the first (and hopefully last) book I've given one star this year. I honestly would say don't bother reading this one, unless you REALLY want to be annoyed.… (más)

Another free short story offered by Éditions ActuSF. You can download it here. As with the other ones, it takes place in the world of another book, this time [b:Sorcières Associées|34120601|Sorcières Associées|Alex Evans|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486314782s/34120601.jpg|45929288], which I haven't read.

The short story is about an antiquarian running a shop with an associate. They got their hands on an old collection of erotic artefacts and books. As this is not their speciality (they run a respected shop, after all), they need to ask advice from someone who does know this world. Apparently, the collection contains a some rare and therefore expensive items. To attract the higher class of society means the rest of the population will follow and visit her shop. So she and her associate organise a sort of party to put the erotic stuff into the spotlight. This attracts all sort of upper-class and literate people. However, there's one little book that seems to be desired by various sorts of people, which is curious to witness. And so the game begins.

The little book is said to contain a code to summon a sort of genie, caught forever inside the book. As our antiquarian has more on her mind, like a customer whose wife has an insatiable lust for the pleasures of the flesh (and him seeking a potion to counter it), she ultimately decides to decode 'Les Fleurs de Minuit' (The Flowers of Midnight) herself and strike a deal with the genie to eliminate the guy who kidnapped her son to obtain the little book. Not that she doesn't already have other problems with her son, but the kidnapper sure as hell isn't going to get away with this. In comes the genie.

I found this story quite entertaining. It's fluently written, there are some fun moments, ... You might then want to read the book itself and its sequel/successor ([b:L'Échiquier de jade|40733710|L'Échiquier de jade|Alex Evans|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1530902027s/40733710.jpg|62399161]). As always, too many books, too little time. Besides, my French TBR-pile is still more than large enough, as are some of the books on it.… (más)